Rick Mayer
Digital ProducerI’m the online producer for Health News Florida, a collaboration of public radio stations and NPR that delivers news about health care issues.
This is an important position at WUSF. In 2019, the typical U.S. family spent about 11 percent of its annual income on health care, so it stands to reason issues of cost, quality, access and innovation are consequential to all Floridians. Then COVID-19 came along, and the weight of these matters gained exponentially. I take our reporting on these topics quite seriously, as I’m sure you do, too.
Literally growing up in newsrooms and a little serendipity along the way prepared me well for the post. Here’s the abridged version: I’m a Tampa guy, graduating from H.B. Plant High and thrust into the world with my USF degree rolled tightly in hand. From there, it was three mostly sleepless decades as an editor at The Tampa Tribune, then developing and managing an online journal serving physician executives. There’s also my side job editing a statewide health magazine.
And being married to a longtime hospital nurse/case manager helps; dinner conversation often gives me a feel of what’s happening on the front lines. The good and not-so-good.
Of course, my time isn’t always spent flailing in the health news vortex. You’re actually more likely to find me breaking down the Bucs, Bulls or Bolts after a game, taking Oodle the poodle to the dog park or tinkering the backroom piano while vicariously reliving my former life as a musician. (Remember, kids: Parents of percussionists have plenty of patience. Plenty!)
Contact Rick on X @rmayer2361 or by email at Mayer1@wusf.org.
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The Hillsborough County Commission voted 5-2 on Friday in favor of a new stadium and mixed-use development for the Tampa Bay Rays on Hillsborough College property in Tampa. It follows approval by the Tampa City Council a day earlier. -
The converted short school bus decorated in ice-cream balls is more than a business with sweet treats. Owner Emily Grace developed it as a hands-on vocational training ground for adults with special needs. -
Here's how a city built a dome to land a Major League Baseball team despite being told not to — and how the search for something better has continued ever since. -
The 4-3 vote came near the end of an eight-hour meeting. The Hillsborough County Commission has a special meeting at 9 a.m. Friday to take up what has become a fluid "final" financing agreement. -
The college's trustees approved hiring a project management firm to serve as the owner’s representative if construction takes place. The board also amended its capital improvement plan to include $50 million allocated by the state for the project. -
The county had been in “continuous discussions” with the Rays and Tampa before the documents were finalized. Meantime, the Rays' issued commitments to the region tied to the stadium plan. -
Five mosquito pools tested positive for the disease in Hillsborough, which added seven cases over the past week. And there was third case in Pinellas after going 15 years without one. -
Among the changes in the 134-page contract from May's nonbinding MOU: The Rays increased their commitment by $100 million, to $1.37 billion, with a corresponding decrease in the public contribution. -
Florida has reported 17 cases and three deaths this year from Vibrio vulnificus, which can be contracted by eating raw oysters or swimming in brackish water with an open wound. -
The FDA said clinical data showed the Aletta achieved successful blood draw rates comparable to or better than trained human phlebotomists when it proceeded with a needle stick.
